check this out brother. -- helped me understand just a little better.
full link << click me
In other cases, careful selection is required. I’ll take the example of how the Lowryder#2 strain was created to prove my point here.
The goal is to preserve the recessive auto-flowering trait:
a = recessive auto-flowering trait
A = dominant normal flowering
Lowryder was bred to Santa Maria/Planck in order to create LR#2. So;
Santa Maria x Lowryder = AA x aa = 100% Aa F1 --> The auto-flowering trait is masked by the gene for normal flowering but all the offspring carry the recessive trait.
(Santa Maria x Lowryder) x Lowryder = Aa F1 x aa = 50% Aa F2 + 50% aa F2 --> 50% auto-flowering in the second generation. This is where the selection for AF plants begins. We pick one of the AF F2's and cross it once more to a true breeding Lowryder,
[(Santa Maria x Lowryder) x Lowryder] x Lowryder = aa F2 x aa = 100% aa F3 = Lowryder#2
As you can see, if we take one of the auto-flowering F2-individuals and cross it to a true breeding Lowryder we get the same result as when we cross two true breeding Lowryders to each other (LR x LR), 100% auto-flowering individuals.
So, if you want to make a new auto-flowering Lowryder hybrid, you have to backcross it twice to true breeding Lowryders in order to preserve the auto-flowering trait in the new hybrid. Remember though that this F3-offspring only carries 12,5% of the genes from the non-auto-flowering parent. In order to increase this percentage you have to start the process all over again.
Some traits might be controlled by several genes which means that the odds are even smaller that this particular trait will be expressed, especially if it is recessive.
The same goes for every trait of the plant, everything from potency to color so my recommendation is to only use the strongest plants you can find for breeding purposes.
